Thursday, January 28, 2016

Two doves nested on my window ledge the other day. In the coming weeks, if all goes well, a baby dove will emerge!The glory of God is often right in front of us.

Our loving God lives in us, moves through us and loves through us, and our loving God lives in every dove, every flower, and in all earth's creatures. Everything is sacred. We walk on holy ground every single day! Let us smell the perfume of the roses, gaze at the fluffy, white clouds, feel the raindrops cleanse our skin, and enjoy the warmth of sunshine caress our bodies.St. Theresa of Avila, a sixteenth century mystic, reformer and Doctor of the Church reminds us that our call is to live life fully and be in love!"Remember if you want to make progress on the path and ascend to the places you have longed for, the important thing is not to think much but to love much and to do whatever best awakens you to love.'While learning can open us wonderful insights, deep knowledge and lead us to wisdom and understanding, love can guide us into the embrace of God where all are one and all belong. God is everyone's God and love is everyone's call. Let us celebrate the beauty of life before our eyes each day!Bridget Mary Meehan, ARCWP,www.arcwp.org

Wednesday, January 27, 2016

What is it that makes Jesus' neighbors so mad at himthat they want to throw
him over the hill?Some are truly amazed at the truth of his insights into
the scripture,but others complainthat he isn't working those miracles
for themlike he did in Capernaum.He responds by telling them that
miracles require faith,and he gives them two examples, neither of them
Jews.His friends and neighbors recognize the truth of what Jesus
says,knowing that those despised foreigners,the Canaanites and the
Syrians,have the deep faith they themselves lack.They reject his
message.But he knew his mission,so he stood up, told the truth,and
went on his way doing what he was called to
do._____________________________________________Religion can bring out
the worst in people.They think their dogma and their ritual makes them
better.They exclude peopleand begin to think that God wants themto
hate the “other”and kill the
“foreigner.”_____________________________________________It still
happens.Just as the citizens of Nazareth forgot the commands of the
Torahto “love the alien as yourself;for you too were once aliens in the
land of Egypt,”people today can forget the Great Commandment of
love.Religion can get distorted into fanaticism and
bigotry._____________________________________________On the other
hand,we know that religion can also bring out the best in people,helping
them to become more tolerant and loving.We each have to ask ourselves what
religion brings out in us.Our first reading, that stirring passage from
Jeremiah,tells us that God has a mission for each one of usthat is only
ours to do.Jeremiah also tells us that It won't be easybut that we will
bear fruit._____________________________________________We are fortunate
here in Northwest Ohioto be able to see the good that religion can bring out
in others.We are blessed with many prophets among us.Some of you know
Paul and Kathleen from Liberty Center,who have left the snowy north for the
winter,but not to vacation.They are trekking through the southwestern
desertto leave caches of water and foodfor desperate refugees from South
American terrorismwho cross into the United States at the risk of their
lives.And some of you know Sandy and Lin in West Toledo,adopting and
fostering so many special needs kidsthat I've lost count.And there's
Sister Ginnyputting together an alternative to suspension for school
kidsat the Padua Center.And Marcia and Rose and hundreds of
otherslobbying to get the lead poisoningout of the homes of the poorest
kids among us.And Karen Shepler bringing our community togetherin an
ongoing dialogue to combat racism.And Woody and Judy creating a way for
followers of every faithto work together as a community of justice and
peace.And, there's our own Tree Toledo,scores of people planting
treesso future generations will have breathable air.And then there's
you,prophets anointed by Godto bear the good news everywhere you
go.You're out there in the food pantries and the soup kitchens,visiting
people in the hospitals and nursing homesand at home and at
Hospice.You're at the funeral homecomforting your friends when they lose
a loved one,tutoring and coaching and cheering for your
grandkids,donating to Rahab's Heart and disaster relief,racing for the
cure,and praying in the quiet of the morningand the still of the
night._____________________________________________Like Jeremiah, like
Jesus, youhave been anointed by God to prophesy to the nations.You look
at the world and speak out,sometimes with words but more often with
action,and with that patient, kind love that Paul preached
about.Sometimes you suffer rejection for standing up and speaking
out.The rejection can take different forms;it can be personal or
situational or social or cultural.You could be passed over for promotion or
fired,you could be bullied or beat up,betrayed by the people you trust
the most,or just plain ignoredwhen you try to do what's rightor
speak up about something that's wrong.But you do it
anyway._____________________________________________God has given each
of us,as the poet Mary Oliver describes it,this “one wild and precious
life”and charged each of us with a unique mission.It's unique because we
each have different gifts to bring to it;but it's the same for all of
us:we are all sent to love:love God,love neighbor,love one
another.Amen!

"Burke, 66, the firebrand conservative who was recently demoted by Pope Francis to the ceremonial post as patron of the Order of Malta, pointed to the introduction of altar girls as an example.

Serving mass is a “manly” job argues the Irish American Cardinal, and so the participation of women and girls in the daily life of the church has had a chilling effect that has led to a drop in morale and priestly vocations.

“Apart from the priest, the sanctuary has become full of women. The activities in the parish and even the liturgy have been influenced by women and have become so feminine in many places that men do not want to get involved."

Not only do boys not want to share altar time with the girls, they resent how much better girls do their jobs apparently...."

Bridget Mary's Response:

I find Irish American Cardinal Raymond Burke's comments blaming women for Church's problems an example of extreme misogyny. Full disclosure, I am Irish born as most of my readers know. What you may not know is that my books were banned by him after I was ordained.

And though I have never met the former Cardinal of the St. Louis Missouri diocese, I believe that Cardinal Burke and his brother bishops have been the gift that keeps on giving! Every time they condemn or excommunicate women priests, our movement grows. And in one sense, you could say that the Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement is a holy shakeup rocking the church! Now, in my view, this is a real good thing, and should not be a red flag of impending doom and gloom, as Cardinal Buke fears. As we grow, we are changing the church, one inclusive community at a time. www.arcwp.org

After my ordination as a Roman Catholic Women Priest in Pittsburgh in 2006, Cardinal Burke ordered Liguori Publications to drop my books. At that time I had published six books which had over 100,000 in sales with Liguori, Many of my books even had imprimaturs:The Healing Power of Prayer, Nine Ways to Reach God, Affirmations from the Heart of God, Praying with a Passionate Heart, Praying with Women of the Bible and Praying with Celtic Holy Women. So, I put them on amazon.com and they are available there to this day. See sidebar on blog if you want to see the entire list of 20.

In 2007, Patricia Fresen ordained Elsie McGrath and Ree Hudson in St. Louis, Missouri. Weeks before the ordination, Cardinal Burke sent an emissary with several warning letters of interdict and excommunication. Ree informed me that much of the letter was written in Latin! At the same time, Cardinal Burke went so far to stop the ordination that he contacted a high ranking Jewish Rabbi who lived in Rome. Rabbi Susan Talve and her congregation welcomed us with open arms at their Synagogue. At that time, I was doing media for RCWP and a "media frenzy was created because of the Cardinal's opposition.

"The area women, Rose Marie Hudson, 68 ,of Festus, and Elsie Hainz McGrath, 69, of St. Louis, were ordained as priests in November 2007. They currently co-pastor a faith community and hold a worship service for about 35 people Sunday evenings at the first Unitarian Church of St. Louis.

Bridget Mary Meehan, a spokesperson for Womenpriests, said Burke is not authorized to excommunicate Fresen because she lives outside the Diocese of St. Louis. Monsignor John Shamleffer, the archdiocese’s chief canon lawyer, said Burke is within his right to respond to disobedience within his geographic jurisdiction, regardless of Fresen’s residence outside the U.S. “Excommunication is not meant to be a penalty,” he said, but a “wakeup call” aimed at helping the women “see the error of their ways and return to full communion with the church.”

A total of 10 women priests have been excommunicated since ordinations began in 2002. The original “Danube Seven” were excommunicated within weeks of their ordination on the Danube River in Germany. Meehan indicated there are 53 women candidates for priesthood, deacons and priests in North America and elsewhere around the world.

In a statement on March 13, Hudson and McGrath said that they “and all Roman Catholic Womenpriests, reject the penalties of excommunication, interdict, and any other punitive actions from church officials. We are loyal daughters of the church, and we stand in the prophetic tradition of holy disobedience to an unjust man-made law that disciminates against women.”

They cited the words of Pope Benedict XVI, who, as Joseph Cardinal Ratzinger, wrote that Catholics must obey their own conscience, “if necessary even against the requirement of ecclesiastical authority.”

Salon reported the Womenpriest movement “is the most flamboyant and incendiary challenge to the Roman Catholic Church’s unrelenting discrimination against women.” “They are asking, Is Sexism a sin? How does the Church reconcile its teaching that women and men are created in God’s image, that once baptized, there is ‘no male or female’ and ‘all are one in Christ Jesus,’ with its contention that women cannot represent the ultimate sacred or hold ultimate power through ordination because they are, literally, the wrong ‘substance’?”

Reid pitched her idea to editors at Liturgical Press, who were excited and gave her the green light.

Reid assembled an eight-woman board of feminist scholars to help her coordinate the project, and in November, the first three of what will ultimately be a 58-volume series of feminist biblical commentary were published: Hebrews, Haggai and Malachi, and Micah.

Titled the Wisdom Commentary — a nod to both the figure of Woman Wisdom as portrayed in the Bible and to the oft-ignored wisdom of female biblical interpreters — the series features authors from a diverse array of religious, racial and cultural backgrounds, including Korean United Church minister HyeRan Kim-Cragg and International Council of Christians and Jews past-president Deborah Weissman.

It's an effort, Reid said, to mirror the very same inclusive society that mendacious structural powers have historically used the Bible to suppress.

"We want to illustrate that there's no one feminist way of interpreting the Scripture and that, just like other biblical scholars, feminist biblical scholars have more than one way of understanding the text as well," she said, adding that in some instances, a single volume of the Wisdom Commentary will highlight dissenting viewpoints.

The Wisdom Commentary isn't introducing a new way of understanding Scripture. In fact, Reid is keenly aware that the series is carrying a torch lit almost two millennia ago: In her editor's introduction to the Wisdom Commentary, Reid notes that one of the first women to openly question the use of Scriptures to support patriarchal structures was a second-century consecrated virgin named Helie who refused to accept that Paul's first letter to the Corinthians made marriage compulsory.

However, Reid hopes that by its unprecedented scope, the Wisdom Commentary will showcase the best of current feminist biblical scholarship and inspire more people to join the ongoing conversation. Schüssler Fiorenza and Brenner-Idan both serve as editorial consultants for the project, and Schüssler Fiorenza is penning the volume on Ephesians.

Reid said she hopes this series will prove to skeptics that looking at the Bible through a feminist lens isn't a fringe activity.

"Feminist biblical interpretation is not something far out and strange," she said. "It has now become so widely a part of how we do biblical interpretation that I had no trouble finding enough authors to do these volumes. It's really taken its place at the academy, and newer biblical scholars are very familiar with it and know how to do it."

That being said, Reid knows that feminist theology is still relatively new and that, as a result, much more work will need to be done to advance a Scripture-based vision of inclusive dignity and equality even after her series. In the meantime, however, she said she's felt the Holy Spirit at work throughout Wisdom Commentary's creation process.

"I think one of the things the Spirit does is bring newness to birth," Reid said. "She's a creative Spirit who brings joy and delight. And I've felt that very strongly throughout this project — the creativity that she is inspiring and the delight that she is unleashing in being able to share more widely these very important perspectives that are being put forth in this commentary series."

The fourth volume of the Wisdom Commentary series, a study of Baruch and Jeremiah, comes out next month. Afterward, Reid expects six to eight volumes to be published every year until the series is complete.

On one occasion, Dorothy Day challenged a young priest: "Words are not enough, she said. " You have to do something. " ( God of Love, p.99)

We find "Dorothy Days" everywhere today who are doing something to promote justice for the marginalized, oppressed and wounded in our world and in our church.Love of God, compassion and justice go together, like hand in glove.

I am reminded too that these words can also be applied to the Catholics who feel rejected by the institutional church. They are no longer welcome at the Banquet table of Christ's love in the Eucharist.Some are unwelcome because they are Gay, Lesbian, Transgender. Some are divorced and remarried without an annulment. At this time the Vatican is still working out the details on the internal forum guidelines that may open the door a crack for divorced and remarried. Some women feel unwelcome because of the church's sexist teachings and structures prohibiting women's ordination. The list goes on and on.

Contemporary theologians have made the case for justice and equality in the church and the world. Their words speak eloquently the message that the will of God in our time is the full equality of women in the church and world.

The international Roman Catholic Women Priests Movement have taken Dorothy's Day's admonition to heart and are acting to make change a reality in the Roman Catholic Church: "Words are not enough, You have to do something.'

Indeed, as Dorothy Day challenges, we are acting! In prophetic obedience to the Spirit, we are breaking an unjust law to bring gender equality and justice to our church. We make the connections between abuse and violence toward women in the world and discrimination toward women in the church. Women priests are bringing healing to centuries old misogyny.

We are ordaining women and men in our communities in apostolic succession as a prophetic act of obedience to the Spirit so that gender equality is a reality now in our grassroots faith communities. We are in 13 countries and over 35 states in the United States.

Let us rejoice and give thanks that the Spirit of God is working through us to create a new justice for women in empowered, inclusive, compassionate communities of faith!

Monday, January 25, 2016

The
wounds of rejectionWe were still grieving the loss of laughing,
loving Danny when the call came. A young woman who had visited the monastery
over the years had heard about the death of Danny. And then, at about the same
time, she came to know, too, of an exhibitor who presented show dogs in
competition. This trainer and dog exhibitor, she learned, intended to have one
of her highly bred golden retrievers euthanized.

This dog had simply had
the misfortune to “outgrow the standard of the breed.” He was, in other words,
too tall or too broad or too something to compete. He was no good for stud. In
fact, he was of no financial good to her at all anymore. He had to
go.

Did we want him, the girl on the phone pressed? If we would promise
to take him, she was sure she could negotiate some kind of agreement to make it
possible. We weren’t over Danny yet. But we did love dogs. The house might not
be ready for another dog. But it might be easier to accept when we were used to
having one around than it would be later. We didn’t have the time to think it
through. But if we didn’t think quickly, this dog was going to be
dead.

I took him.

…oh, was he trained! It was almost pitiable to
watch him. Call the dog to come and he trundled across the room and threw
himself flat on his face in front of you. No joy in coming. No joy in getting
there. He had been robotized to the point of pain.

Somehow or other, in
anticipation of dog show ribbons and championships, puppyness had been stripped
right out of Duffy. We had an old dog, an empty kind of dog, in a young dog who
had never found life for himself. It had been given to him in short phrases:
come, sit, down, and stay. All of them are valuable things to know, but all of
them, in his case, had been exaggerated to the point of
meaninglessness.

My first attempt to free Duffy was to decide that no
one who was involved with caring for him would ever give him a command again. It
was the one clear gift I could think of to prove to him the trustworthiness of
his essential dogness.

“Duffy,” I would say silently as I looked into
his deep, wise, and knowing eyes, “you are enough just as you are. You have had
all the shaping into someone else’s expectations that you will get for the rest
of your life. From now on, all you need to learn is how to be
yourself.”

Then the lesson became clear: It is when we
become ourselves that people have the least control of us and we have the
beginning of the whole of ourselves. Then, like Duffy, we will begin to
bloom.

Sunday, January 24, 2016

Presider 1: It
is with great joy that we, The Upper Room Inclusive Catholic Community welcome
Kellie and T’Quomas Van Bergen, with their son Enzo Knox, to this celebration
of Baptism. Enzo was born on November 4, 2015 at 8:31 pm. His mother and father
and extended family welcomed him to this beautiful world on that special day.
Today, we formally welcome Enzo to the Christian Community through the
sacrament of Baptism.

Presider 2:
Let us pray. O Holy One, you continually remind us that you love your creation
by sending us brand new possibilities in the form of daughters and sons. May Enzo grow in his understanding of your
infinite love as he learns the meaning of faith through service. May he come to
appreciate his responsible place as co-creator of his life in You. Amen.
(pause)

Presider 1: The first reading is about the special place of each
person in God’s love. People sometimes say, when talking about a time
before someone was even conceived, that he or she was “no more than a
gleam in the parents’ eyes”. We find that same way of thinking, not
literally, but as a metaphor about how God holds us in love, in this passage
from Psalm 139 read by Paula Reynolds.

First Reading: Psalm 139

O Holy One, My
Beloved, you have searched me out and known me;

you know my sitting
down and my rising up;

you discern my
thoughts from afar.

You trace my journeys
and my resting places

and are acquainted
with all my ways.

For you yourself
created my inmost parts;

you knit me together
in my mother’s womb.

I will thank you
because I am marvelously made;

your works are
wonderful, and I know it well.

My body was not
hidden from you,

while I was being
made in secret

and woven from the
elements of the earth.

You beheld my limbs,
yet unfinished in the womb;

all of them were
written in your book;

they were fashioned
day by day,

when as yet there was
none of them.

How precious to me
are your creations, O Holy One!

Presider 2: Our
Second reading is from a letter written by the apostle Paul to the followers of
Jesus at Corinth and read by T'Quomas Van Bergen.

Dear Brothers and
sisters:
As a body is one, though it has many parts,
and all the parts of the body, though many,

are one body, so also
Christ.
For in one Spirit we were all baptized into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, slaves or free persons,
and we were all given to drink of one Spirit.
Now the body is not a single part, but many.
You are Christ’s body, and individually parts of it.

These are the
inspired words of Paul, disciple of Jesus.

Alleluia: (Sung)

Presider 1: Our Third
reading is from the Gospel of Luke read by Andrea Lopez

and went according to
his custom
into the synagogue on the Sabbath day.
He stood up to read and was handed a scroll of the prophet Isaiah.
He unrolled the scroll and found the passage where it was written:
The Spirit of the Holy One is upon me,
and has anointed me
to bring glad tidings to the poor,
to proclaim liberty to captives
and recovery of sight to the blind,
to let the oppressed go free,
and to proclaim a year acceptable to the Holy One.
Rolling up the scroll, he handed it back to the attendant and sat down,
and the eyes of all in the synagogue looked intently at him.
He said to them,
“Today this Scripture passage is fulfilled in your hearing.”

These are the
inspired words of Luke, disciple of Jesus.

SHARED HOMILY

BAPTISMAL RITE

Reception of the Child

Presider 2: I
invite Kellie, T’Quomas and Enzo to stand with Enzo’s Godparents Earl and Cathy.

Presider 1:(to the parents) Kellie and T’Quomas, what do you ask of this Christian Community?

Kellie and
T’Quomas: We ask that our son Enzo be welcomed into the Christian community
through the sacrament of Baptism.

Presider 2: By
asking for Baptism within the Christian community, you are promising to teach
Enzo to live justly, to love tenderly and to walk with integrity for all to see
and celebrate. You are promising to teach him about his brother, Jesus and his
message of love. Do you promise to do
this to the best of your ability?

Kellie and
T’Quomas: We do.

Presider 1:(to the godparents)Earl
and Cathy, do you promise to help Kellie and T’Quomas as they teach Enzo about the
Source of All Life and about Jesus, our brother?

Godparents: We
do.

Baptismal Ritual

Presider 1: In
our ritual today, we use many sacramental symbols and signs. We now begin the
baptismal ritual with a blessing of the water and the oil.

Kellie: O Holy
One, Source of all that is, we experience your grace through sacramental signs,
which tell us of your unseen presence.

T”Quomas: At
the dawn of creation, Your Spirit breathed on the waters making them the
wellspring of all holiness.

Godparent 1 (Earl):
The water of the Red Sea, through which our ancestors traveled, is a symbol of
our liberation from all that holds us captive. In the waters of the Jordan
River, our brother Jesus was baptized by his cousin, John, and anointed with
your Spirit.

Godparent 2
(Cathy): After the resurrection, the disciples of Jesus celebrated baptism
in water and the Spirit with those who answered Your call to holiness.

Kellie: From
age to age, oil has been used to anoint the priests, prophets, leaders and
visionaries.

Presider 2: (to all present) Please
extend your hands in blessing the water and oil .

O Holy One, you call
us to be co-creators of a world filled with blessing and abundance. As
co-creators with you, we bless this water and oil as a symbol of your grace
filled presence in our community. (pause)

Baptismal Promises

(Each person is
invited to light a candle and place it on the table by baptismal font.)

Presider 1: In
this part of the baptismal ritual, Kellie and T’Quomas make baptismal promises
for Enzo. I invite everyone to renew their baptismal promises and respond “I
do” to each of the following:

Do you promise to see
what is good for your sisters and brothers everywhere, rejecting injustice and
inequity, living with the freedom and responsibility of children of God?

All: I do.

Presider 2: Do you
promise to work for the realization of God’s vision of harmony and right
relations among all peoples, rejecting the idols of money, property, color, sex
and position?

All: I do.

Presider 1:

Do you promise to
seek peace and live in peace in one human family, rejecting prejudice and
half-heartedness in every form, and all barriers to unity?

All: I do.

Presider 2:

Do you promise to
cherish the universe, and this precious planet, working creatively to renew and
safeguard the elemental sacraments of air, earth, water and fire?

All: I do.

Presider 1:

Do you believe in
God, the Source of all life, in Jesus, our brother who loved and lived among us
so that all might live with abundant fullness; in the breath of God’s center,
the Spirit who continues the work of forgiveness and reconciliation, birthing
and blessing, challenge and hope, so that together we can continue the work of
creation?

-in the
name of our God whose Spirit invites and inspires us as co-creators. Amen.

Anointing with Oil

Presider 2: (As Kellie anoints Enzo’s forehead)

Enzo, you were
conceived in love and welcomed to life with love. We anoint you with this oil
in recognition that human love is sacred, that you are sacred.

Presentation of Stole

Presider 1: (as Earl places
stole on Enzo) Enzo, we present you with this stole. May it remind
you that you carry in the depths of your being the Spirit of Life and Love
itself.

Lighting Candle

Presider 2: (as Cathy
lights Enzo’s candle from the community’s candles) Enzo, may this candle remind
you of Jesus, who opened peoples’ minds and hearts to see the “light” of God’s
presence within them.

Presentation of Child
to Community

Presider 1: (Kellie and T’Quomas lift Enzo and present
him to the community) It is with
great joy that we welcome Enzo Knox Van Bergen to the Christian Community.

LITURGY OF THE EUCHARIST

Presider 2: As we prepare for the sacred meal, we
bring to the table our blessings, cares, and concerns. (at conclusion) Presider: With love and gratitude we pray for these
concerns and those which remain unspoken.
Amen.

Presider 1: O Holy One, you have been called by many
names by many people in the centuries of our planet’s life. Yet, no name truly
defines you or describes you. We celebrate you as the marvelous, loving energy
of life who caused us and our world to be. We celebrate you as the Source of
light and life and love, and we celebrate your presence and all-ways care.

Presider 2:
Please join in praying the Eucharistic prayer together.

All: God beyond our
words, God of every simple truth, God of each and all of us, we gather to give
thanks. We open our awareness to the
goodness of all of creation, to remember our responsibility to serve.

We open this circle
to the memory of all those who have gone before us, and joined with all that is
alive, we lift up our lives and sing: Holy, Holy, Holy (Karen Drucker)

We thank you for our
brother, Jesus. He showed us so simply, so tenderly, how the world is in our
hands. He had nothing in this world but your love, companions on the journey,
and his very self. Together, that was more than enough, and that remains our
clarity in the midst of confusion: the miracle of healing, new hope,
nurturance, nourishment, liberation and life.

On the night before
he faced his own death and for the sake of living fully, Jesus sat at the Seder
supper with his companions and friends.
He reminded them of all that he taught them, and to fix that memory
clearly within them, he bent down and washed their feet.

Presider
1: Please extend your hands in blessing over these gifts

Presider 1 lifts the bread as community
prays the following:

Back at the table, Jesus took the Passover
Bread, spoke the grace, broke the bread and offered it to them saying,

Take and eat, this is my very self. (Pause)

Presider
2 lifts the wine as community prays the following:

Then he took the cup of blessing, spoke the
grace, and offered it to them saying:

Take and drink of the covenant

Made new again through my life

Poured out for you and for everyone, that
you might really be free. Whenever you remember me like this, I am among you.

(pause)

O Holy One, we are
grateful for the gift of your Spirit, always inviting us to be co-creators with
you. And like Jesus . . .

Standing where he
stood,

and for what he
stood,

and with whom he
stood,

we are united in your
Spirit,

and worship you with
our lives,

Amen!

Presider 1: Let us pray together the prayer of Jesus:

O Holy One, who is within, we celebrate your many names. Your
wisdom come. Your will be done, unfolding from the depths within us. Each day
you give us all that we need. You remind us of our limits, and we let go. You
support us in our power, and we act with courage. For you are the dwelling
place within us, the empowerment around us, and the celebration among us, now
and forever. Amen.

The Prayer of Jesus as interpreted by Miriam Therese Winter

Presider 2:
Please join in our prayer for the
breaking of the bread:

All: Loving God, You call us to live the Gospel
of peace and justice. We will live
justly.
Loving God, You call us to be Your presence in the world. We will love tenderly
Loving God, You call us to speak truth to power. We will walk with integrity in your presence.